


Love in a Time of Peace

by loveispurple



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Crying, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad Ending, a little fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 14:32:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10855974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveispurple/pseuds/loveispurple
Summary: They met and loved in a time of war. But can they keep their love alive in a time of peace?





	Love in a Time of Peace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rexluscus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexluscus/gifts).



> This work was done (way too late) for Fandom Trumps Hate. The prompt: something angsty about Luke and Lando in the period following ROTJ. Writing this story introduced me to a new pairing that I had never even thought of and made me love it, so hopefully there will be more like this in the future.

The celebration raged on as Luke stood to the side, leaned against a tree, observing and thinking. The Emperor was finally dead, as was any hope for the continuation of the Galactic Empire. In the excitement that followed, Luke watched as his friends danced, ate, drank, hugged, and let loose before the impending evacuation early the next morning. Luke half-smiled to himself, happy to see such tense people finally at ease, if only for a little while. He, for himself, was happier than he could remember being since the start of this whole mess of a war, even through the worries that heavily plagued his mind.

In the dim glow of the candles and funeral pyre, Luke saw Lando approaching him slowly, his face illuminated in the most wonderful way. He abandoned his spot against the tree and met Lando halfway.

When they met, Lando stood close, their faces almost touching as he lightly held onto Luke’s shoulders. “Come dance, Sunshine,” was his request.

Luke smiled and characteristically dipped his head. “I’m not much of a dancer,” he confessed, looking to the ground.

“Dance for me,” Lando mumbled, his lips nearly brushing Luke’s in the process.

And Luke nearly let himself give in, his eyes closing as he savored the way their air collided and swirled with every breath. Snapping his eyes open and stepping back, again aware of the hoards of people surrounding them, Luke hurriedly suggested, “Why don’t we go someplace more private?”

Lando smirked, stepping into Luke’s personal space once again and wrapping an arm around his lover. “I like the sound of that.” Luke blushed, unnoticeable in the dim light, and the two started off deep into the endless trees, their steps perfectly aligned.

——

As soon as they found a clearing far enough from the crowds, the only reminder of the party the distant beating of drums, Lando lifted Luke as high as he could manage and spun him around and around, catching Luke by surprise. The two laughed and smiled so genuinely until Lando got dizzy and had to set Luke down to keep them both from collapsing as the forest seemed to spin around them. But Lando wouldn’t let this faze him; he moved his hands into a tight grip on Luke’s shoulders, grinning as he looked into the smiling blue eyes in front of him, then leaned in to press a chaste kiss to the lips of his lover. A thousand unspoken words were exchanged as they looked into each other’s eyes.

Luke, breaking the silence, offered, “You’re a hero, you know.” Before Lando could interrupt and deny the claim, Luke continued. “It’s true. You saved the galaxy. You’re a hero, whether you like it or not.” He concluded his simple statement by reaching up and placing a quick kiss to Lando’s forehead.

Lando looked down and chuckled at Luke’s words. “I’m no hero,” he said. “Not like you, anyway. You’re the real hero, Luke.”

Luke dipped his head in Tatooinian custom and began to argue back. “No. I’m just-“

“Look,” Lando interrupted. “Can we just agree that we’re both heros and get back to what’s _really_ important?”

“And what would that be?” asked Luke with a hint of a challenge in his eyes. Lando had no problem at all accepting that challenge. He tilted his head and pressed a more passionate kiss against Luke’s lips which Luke happily reciprocated. They each smiled into the kiss as Lando walked them back until Luke was gently pressed between a tree and the familiar comfort of Lando’s body.

While Luke was happy with his arms wrapped around Lando’s neck, Lando let his hands explore Luke’s body. He ran his hands smoothly along Luke’s sides and eventually up and down his arms. Without breaking the kiss, he took Luke’s right hand - the mechanical one - in his and caressed it softly over the glove protecting it from further damage. “See?” he said, breaking away but continuing to run his fingers along Luke’s gloved hand. “Isn’t this better than arguing over who saved who?”

Luke laughed softly. “Much better,” he agreed, melting a little in Lando’s touch.

“Did you, uh-“ Lando hesitated to bring up what he knew was often a sore subject.

Luke felt this nervousness like an electric shock - which wasn’t exactly an unfamiliar sensation after what he had endured mere hours earlier - and held back a flinch. “What is it?” he asked, desperate to calm the tension and return to the serenity they’d been in a minute ago.

“Did you tell them?” Lando asked. “About us, I mean.”

Luke felt his heart sink slightly at the thought of having to tell Lando the answer he didn’t want. “No, I didn’t,” he confessed with regret. “It’s just- it’s all been so much. Besides, the battlefield wasn’t exactly the place to bring it up.” He thought back to the brief conversations he’d had with Han and Leia since they’d freed Han; there hadn’t exactly been much time for gossip about who was kissing who.

Lando sighed out a half-hearted laugh. “I know. But Luke,” he said, looking into his eyes, “you’re going to have to tell them sooner or later. I know you’re scared, but I don’t want to hide forever.” He kissed the hair on the top of Luke’s head, breathing in the intoxicating scent of the man he loved. “And I know you don’t either.”

There was a silence between them. When Lando realized that Luke didn’t have a response, he kissed him once more, moving his hands to rest against the smaller man’s shoulders. He pulled away after a short moment, looking deep into Luke’s eyes, and made his mind up. “Come away with me.”

“What?” Luke said, squinting his eyes at Lando in confusion.

“Come away with me, Luke. We don’t need anyone else, just you and me, living among the stars. I’ll show you everything you ever dreamed of and more. Come with me,” he finished in a whisper.

Luke laughed and shook his head. “You’re insane,” he laughed, meaning it as a joke. He quickly realized that Lando wasn’t joking at all. “We can’t leave now. There’s so much work to be done. We’re needed here.”

“I’m serious, Luke,” Lando insisted. “We can go far away, anywhere you want. We can be together and never have to worry about who sees.”

Luke looked into the other man’s deep brown eyes in concern. “Lando, you know we can’t do that,” he said. “The Empire isn’t dead, not yet. We can’t just run away.”

“Yes, we can! We can leave it all behind: the Rebellion, the war, all this Jedi stuff - we can-“

“Wait,” Luke interrupted, squirming out of Lando’s grip. “‘All this Jedi stuff’? Is that what this is to you? Lando, the Force is my life now. And you want me to just pack up and forget about it? No way. ‘This Jedi stuff’ is a part of who I am, and you need to respect that if you want to be with me.”

Lando was fretful now; he knew he’d slipped up bad. “That’s not what I meant-“

But Luke interrupted again. “And you want me to just run away, give up being a Jedi Knight, leave my sister behind - my sister, Lando! the only family I have left - to go relax with you on some luxury planet? I’m sorry, but that’s not who I am.”

“But it could be,” Lando argued. “It could be you, if you want it.” He slowly made his way over to where Luke was standing, now a few feet away. “You’ve done so much for the galaxy already. You deserve some happiness of your own.”

Luke continued to walk away from Lando, not wanting to be close right now. He could feel the anger radiating off of the other man. And there was nervousness, and sadness, so much sadness it felt like they were both drowning in it. “Please, Luke,” Lando said softly, standing still and giving up on getting anywhere near him. “You’re all I want.”

“Then stay,” Luke pleaded. He tried, though he knew there was only one way this would end, and it broke his heart. With tears caught in his throat, he explained, “It’s my destiny to stay here, to rebuild the Jedi Order. I’ve foreseen it; my master has foreseen it. It’s what I have to do.” He almost choked out a cry but swallowed it as he finally lost his composure. “But you can stay with me. We can live together at the Temple. I don’t even care who knows anymore! I just don’t want to lose you!”

Lando took a careful step toward Luke. Seeing that the blond man didn’t move, he continued forward until they were inches apart. Feeling Lando’s presence soften, Luke finally allowed himself to let all of the tears fall from his eyes, something he hadn’t done since before Yavin. Yes, he’d briefly cried for his father, but he hadn’t fully released his emotions and allowed himself to fall apart. Lando instantly took notice of this and embraced him, letting Luke collapse into his arms. “I don’t want to lose you,” Luke cried over and over. “I don’t want to lose you.”

——

Luke had ended up crying far more than he’d originally thought he could. Lando had found them a nice spot to sit between the hulking roots of a tree. Luke had finally confessed what he’d been through since they’d seen each other last: the blaster hole still burned through the palm of his hand, turning himself over to the Emperor, nearly falling to the Dark Side, being struck by lightning continuously as he writhed helplessly and waited to die. He’d finally told Lando how he’d learned that he and Leia were twins; how he’d confronted Vader months before; how his father had rescued him from death, and how, in turn, he’d rescued his father from the grips of the Dark Side; how he’d watched his father die in front of him, just as they’d truly met each other for the first time.

Luke was all cried-out now. He leaned into Lando’s embrace, letting himself be free of the emotional hold he kept on himself, if only for a moment. Lando held him tight, stroking his hair softly and giving him occasional kisses. Luke’s eyes were heavy, and his tired mind threatened to give into sleep. But he knew that there was still something he needed to do before he let himself rest.

Words swam through Luke’s mind in powerful, poetic sentences, but all that came out was a mumbled “please stay”, nearly muted by the thick fabric of Lando’s jacket.

Lando had clearly been thinking too. His arms tightened around the weary body of the man he’d come to love so much. After a few quiet moments of listening to the distant drums and feeling each other’s breathing, Lando decided it was time to speak. “You know I can’t do that.”

Had Luke not already been nearly collapsed in Lando’s arms, he would have fallen to the ground in that moment as what was left of his heart finally shattered. “I know,” he responded sincerely. He gave himself a minute or two, grasping onto Lando as if he were the only oxygen left in the galaxy. And in that moment, he might as well have been; he was the only thing keeping Luke alive. “We were lovers in a time of war,” began Luke as the eloquent passages returned to the forefront of his mind. He sat up and wrestled out of Lando’s passionate grip. “We fit together like two pieces of a whole being. You were everything I didn’t know that I needed. And while we were working toward a common goal in a time where every breath held a mystery, that was enough.

“But how do we love in a time of peace?” he continued. He thanked the Force that he had no tears left to cry. “We’re meant for different things. I won’t walk away from what is needed of me, and I would never let myself take you away from your destiny. You’re not meant to be grounded. You’re needed out among the stars. If I kept you here, I’d be changing who you are.”

They looked into each other’s eyes, knowing it may be the last time. “I love you, Lando,” he finished. “I will always love you. And that’s why I need to let you go: because I could never live with myself if I made you stay.”

“I know,” Lando nearly sobbed out, successfully holding back most of his tears. The two leaned into each other and embraced, kissed for what seemed like hours but was still not nearly enough. “I would never try to change you, Luke,” he whispered against the blond man’s lips. “You’re perfect… The galaxy needs you more than I do.”

“We knew this day would come,” Luke said before leaning in for another heartbreaking kiss. He leaned back and cupped Lando’s face in his real hand, studying the look in the man’s eyes and memorizing his Force-presence. “And we will meet again one day. I believe that.”

Lando tried to believe the words but found little comfort. “Stay with me tonight,” he asked as his final request.

Luke nodded. “Of course, Love.” The pet name Luke had given him early on nearly made Lando cry, but he saved his tears for the bunk that they planned to share back at the temporary base. Luke picked himself up and offered Lando a hand. The two walked hand-in-hand for the last time, both preparing for the impending goodbye.


End file.
